Being on the same team as Sasuke-kun was one thing.
But she'd also ended up on the same team as Naruto-kun!?
This was just too wonderful, wasn't it?
Really! Really!
How unfair!!!
At that moment, the girls all wanted to pounce on Sakura Haruno and vent their resentment and frustration.
Even Ino, who had known all along that she had no chance and was destined to be teamed up with Shikamaru and Choji, was now glaring at her former best friend Sakura with gritted teeth. What was that saying? When it came to "love," the "friendship" between girls was incredibly fragile.
Hinata Hyuga, sitting some distance away, also wore an unmistakably disappointed expression.
"So I really can't be on the same team as Naruto-kun?"
The girl's utterly dejected mood and her tightly clasped hands said it all.
Of course, Hinata didn't know.
Before graduation, her homeroom teacher, Iruka, had tried to see if he could place her and Naruto on the same team. Over the past six years, Iruka had noticed how unusually attentive Naruto was toward Hinata. And in one particular lesson, he had seen the answer Hinata Hyuga had written. Both gave Iruka reason to make that judgment. He believed that putting Hinata and Naruto on the same team would be a very good thing.
But in the end, the idea couldn't be put into practice.
That was without even considering how the Hyuga Clan might react.
The Third Hokage had already personally decided Naruto's team assignment earlier.
That had killed Iruka's plan before it could get off the ground.
All he could do was follow the original plan and put Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura on the same team.
That was something Iruka found a little regrettable.
Meanwhile, the three who had been grouped together each showed a different expression.
Sakura Haruno's feelings had already been made clear: she wore a simple, unrestrained look of excitement.
She had been placed on a team with two classmates whose overall grades were among the best in the class, and, on top of that, her beloved Sasuke.
Sakura's expression and feelings at that moment couldn't be described with such simple words as "glad" or "happy." She wanted to let her excitement burst out, yet also tried to restrain herself so she could appear like a quiet, well-mannered girl. It really wasn't easy for Sakura.
Naruto, on the other hand, looked calm and composed. He'd known this was coming, so there was nothing to be surprised about. An unexpected team assignment would have been what caught his interest.
As for Sasuke, as mentioned earlier, he didn't care who his teammates were, so long as they didn't get in his way. When Iruka announced the team members, Sasuke still wore an indifferent expression. Only when he heard Naruto's name did his brow twitch slightly, and that was all. It was because Naruto had performed exceptionally well throughout their six years at the Ninja Academy, even threatening Sasuke in one or two sparring exercises.
As for Sakura Haruno, whom Iruka mentioned next,
she did even less to stir anything within Sasuke.
What Sasuke cared about most now was who would lead his team. Would they be qualified to lead him? Could they teach him how to become stronger? Those were the things he cared about most. Five years had passed since the Night of the Massacre, but almost every night of those five years, Sasuke had been tormented by nightmares. Several times, he had even jolted awake after dreaming once again that his older brother had killed their parents with his own hands.
Five years!
It had been five whole years!
At last, he had graduated from the Ninja Academy.
Sasuke was desperate to grow stronger and catch up with that damned traitor as soon as possible.
Find him!
Demand to know why!
Then kill him!
Avenge his parents and every member of his clan.
Those were the two ambitions buried deep in Sasuke's heart that would never change or waver, and one of them would remain his foremost goal until the day he died. The other, naturally, was to restore the Uchiha Clan. He had once been the young master of the Uchiha Clan, whose people were renowned not only throughout Konoha but as the greatest clan in the Shinobi World. Sasuke had always been proud of that, and he intended to revive his clan someday.
So, compared to what Sasuke considered trivial matters like teammates,
what he cared about more was who their team leader would be!
And whether they were strong enough!
After announcing the members of Team 7,
the next team, Team 8, was also worth paying attention to.
At least, Naruto was very interested in it.
That was because Hinata Hyuga was among its members.
The other two members paired with her
were exactly the same as in the original story.
Kiba Inuzuka of the Inuzuka Clan, and Shino Aburame of the Aburame Clan.
Although Naruto did feel a little regretful that he couldn't be on the same team as Hinata, seeing that her teammates were still Kiba and Shino made him quietly breathe a sigh of relief. Kiba Inuzuka sometimes liked to brag and could seem unreliable, even a bit carefree, but whether based on the original story from his previous life or on six years of knowing him at the Ninja Academy in this life, Naruto knew he was an honest person. He wasn't fake or pretentious, and he treated people with warmth. Shino went without saying—he was simply a deadpan guy who had some difficulty communicating (probably?).
Seeing that Hinata's teammates were still those two, with no deviations from the original story, Naruto felt reassured. And if things continued this way, Team 8's Jonin instructor should still be Kurenai Yuhi, one of the few female Ninja among the Jonin.
After those two teams, among the remaining teams Iruka announced, the only one made up of Konoha's Great Three Families—the Ino-Shika-Cho formation—was Team 10. The rest were all minor background characters from the original story who had barely any role at all.
It was also almost certain that among the dozen or so teams in this class, only Team 7, Team 8, and Team 10 would be led by Jonin. The rest would all be led by Chunin. The original story hadn't mentioned this, but based on Naruto's own judgment, that should be how it was. After all, there were no geniuses or special cases among the rest of his classmates who would warrant the Third Hokage assigning a Jonin to lead them.
After Iruka announced the last team and went over a few more necessary matters, he left the classroom. Next, it was time for the team leaders and the newly graduated Genin.
Only after Iruka had left the classroom
did Ninja dressed in the standard uniforms that only Chunin and above in Konoha were entitled to wear begin arriving, one after another, to take away the teams they would lead. The routine was simple: the team leader came in, called out a team number, and the members of that team stood up together and followed the leader out.
Since they were all dressed alike,
it was impossible to tell whether they were Chunin or Jonin.
But judging by what Naruto could sense, they were all Chunin.
Their auras weren't particularly strong, after all.
He'd even fought Mizuki head-on when Mizuki had erupted like he was on adrenaline, so he had enough judgment to make that call.
He couldn't say it was perfectly accurate, but it was probably close enough.